Drug & supplement interaction

Garden Cress + Valacyclovir

Valacyclovir brand name: Valtrex.

No Known Interaction
Medically reviewed by · Updated June 2026 · Pair last verified Sep 13, 2026
The bottom line No known interaction

We found no known interaction between Garden Cress and Valacyclovir in our sources. Absence of a documented interaction is not the same as proven safety, and does not guarantee one does not exist. Do not start, stop, or change a medication or supplement based on this page; confirm with your pharmacist or doctor first.

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Interaction report

Garden Cress and Valacyclovir

We checked these two against our interaction database. Here is what we found.

No Known Interaction Found

We did not find a documented interaction between Valacyclovir and Garden Cress in our sources. This does not guarantee that the combination is completely free of risk — there is often limited research on supplements and herbal products, especially around drug interactions.

If you decide to take both, the practical routine is simple: add one new thing at a time and note the date you started it. If the combination is going to disagree with you, it usually shows in the first days to a couple of weeks — and a start date turns “I’ve been feeling off” into something a pharmacist can actually work with. Do not stop a prescribed medicine on your own.

Always talk with your pharmacist or doctor before making changes to your medications or supplements, particularly if you take several medications or have an ongoing health condition.

Garden Cress safety at a glance

Garden Cress overall Use caution Generally safe as a food, but concentrated seed amounts have limited safety data.
Pregnancy Avoid Seeds are traditionally believed to stimulate the uterus, so avoid medicinal amounts during pregnancy.
Breastfeeding Use caution Food amounts are likely fine, but safety of concentrated supplements is not well studied.

Safety guidance is general; always confirm with your pharmacist or doctor for your situation.

Still wondering about combining Valacyclovir and Garden Cress? Ask Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS directly ›
How we checked

Why No Interaction Is Listed for Valacyclovir

Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes, not just single drug names. Valacyclovir is filed under 3 classifications — organic anion transporter 1 (oat1) substrates, seizure threshold lowering drugs, oral drugs. Garden Cress has documented interactions with 14 drug classes — the most serious being amlodipine (norvasc) (moderate), anticoagulant/antiplatelet drugs (moderate) and antidiabetes drugs (moderate) — and none of Valacyclovir’s classifications are among them.

Classification data comes from our licensed Natural Medicines dataset. A medication can belong to classes beyond those recorded there, so this describes how the check was run — it is not a safety guarantee.

Keep it in perspective

Garden Cress Does Interact With Other Medications

Garden Cress has 398 moderate known drug interactions in our database — Valacyclovir isn’t one of them. If you take anything else, check it against the full list below.

Moderate 398 No known interaction 2,432 (incl. Valacyclovir)
Taking anything else?

Check Another of Your Medications Against Garden Cress

Covers the 2,830 medications we’ve checked against Garden Cress. Pick one to open its full report.

What to actually watch for

What Valacyclovir’s Own FDA Label Lists

This is not an interaction — none of it involves Garden Cress. These are the most notable effects listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of Valacyclovir’s own FDA label, for the medication by itself. Knowing the drug’s own list makes it easier to work out the likely cause if something new turns up while you take both. 10 of them are worth acting on rather than waiting out — marked below.

  • Mania or an unusually elevated mood Worth acting on
  • Dehydration Worth acting on
  • Unsteadiness Worth acting on
  • Hallucinations Worth acting on
  • Confusion Worth acting on
  • A severe skin reaction Worth acting on
  • Seizures Worth acting on
  • Low mood Worth acting on
  • A low platelet count Worth acting on
  • Kidney problems Worth acting on

Showing the 10 most notable of 35 label-listed effects — ranked by how unusual each one is across medicines generally, with serious effects weighted up.

From the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Valacyclovir. Read the label on DailyMed › Garden Cress’s licensed record lists no adverse effects our clinical vocabulary could match, so there is no Garden Cress side to compare — that is a limit of the record, not a statement that Garden Cress has no side effects.

From our Q&A

Questions About Garden Cress or Valacyclovir

These are real questions from readers, answered by the pharmacists at HelloPharmacist — written by a person, not generated from a database. Each one covers Garden Cress or Valacyclovir, not necessarily both, but if one is close to what you were about to ask it will usually go further than a database entry can:

Not quite your question? Ask our pharmacists directly — it is free, there is no account required, and answers usually come back within 24 hours.

Everything else you take

See Every Supplement That Interacts With Valacyclovir

This page covers Garden Cress only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Valacyclovir page lists 27 supplements it has a documented interaction with, worst first, each one explained.

The most serious there right now: Activated Charcoal (major), African Wild Potato (moderate), Banderol (moderate), Biofeedback (moderate) and Caffeic Acid (moderate).

By severity: 1 major · 17 moderate · 9 minor.

From our pharmacist’s overview on the Valacyclovir page

“Valacyclovir (Valtrex) works against herpes outbreaks only if enough of it gets absorbed into your blood, and most of this list threatens exactly that. Of the 27 supplements on file, 17 can change how well oral medicines like this one are absorbed, and the single major-rated entry, activated charcoal, binds drugs in the gut outright.”

Reviewed by 2 · Jul 18, 2026

Open the Valacyclovir interaction page

One more smart check

Taking Garden Cress as Part of a Dietary Supplement Product? Check It for Interactions

We hold 16 real supplement products containing Garden Cress, each one broken down to its full ingredient list — and combination products often carry several ingredients besides Garden Cress. Even though Garden Cress itself has no known interaction with Valacyclovir, another ingredient on your label might. Find your product and we’ll check every ingredient on its label:

How much people look this up

Where Garden Cress and Valacyclovir Sit Against Everything Else

Out of every supplement and medication people look up on HelloPharmacist, here is where these two land this week — and which way each has been moving.

Supplement Garden Cress
Steady interest

#1,164 of 1,452 supplements looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today
Medication Valacyclovir
Top 5%

#30 of 2,830 medications looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today

Position among everything looked up on this site, not a measure of how commonly either one is used or how important it is. A supplement can climb this list because of a news story. It counts every request to the page, automated ones included, and nothing here identifies anyone.

Where does our data come from?
  • Source: the Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) clinical database — the evidence-graded professional reference for herb & supplement interactions.
  • Citation library: 103,510 references behind our interaction content, 65,311 of them resolved to verified PubMed/DOI sources. See every Garden Cress reference on this page ↓
  • Freshness: we automatically re-check this combination every week — this pair was last verified September 13, 2026. The Garden Cress and Valacyclovir records this page draws on were last updated June 22, 2026.
  • What “no known interaction” means: no documented interaction in the sources above — not a guarantee of safety. Supplements are studied far less than prescription drugs, so we say exactly what the evidence supports, and nothing more.
Data structure & sourcing designed and verified by .
Supplement

About Garden Cress

What is Garden Cress?

Garden Cress
  • Digestive support
  • Bone health
  • Iron and vitamin source
  • Cough and respiratory comfort
  • Boosting breast milk (traditional)
  • Constipation relief

Garden cress is a nutritious leafy herb and seed used widely in cooking and traditional medicine, providing vitamins, minerals, and fiber. While it has a long history of use for digestion, bone health, and lactation, strong human research supporting most medicinal claims is limited. It is generally safe as a food, but concentrated seed supplements should be used cautiously and avoided in pregnancy.

Lepidium sativum · Brassicaceae · Seeds and leaves · Fresh leaves, seeds, seed powder, sprouts

An interaction check asks whether these two react with each other — it does not ask whether Garden Cress is a good idea for someone in your situation. Here is what our Garden Cress record says about it on its own.

Garden Cress: dosing

There is no official, standardized medicinal dose for garden cress. It is most often consumed as a food—fresh leaves, sprouts, or soaked seeds added to meals or drinks.If you use a seed powder or supplement, follow the directions on the product label and do not exceed the recommended amount.

From our Garden Cress monograph — the full record covers uses, side effects and every documented interaction.

Read the full Garden Cress monograph & all interactions
Medication

About Valacyclovir

What Is Valacyclovir Used For?

Brand name: Valtrex

Valacyclovir tablets are used in adults to treat cold sores (herpes labialis), genital herpes (initial and recurrent episodes), and shingles (herpes zoster). They can also be taken daily as suppressive therapy to reduce how often genital herpes outbreaks occur, and to lower the risk of passing genital herpes to a partner.

In children and adolescents, valacyclovir tablets are used to treat cold sores in those aged 12 and older, and chickenpox in those aged 2 to under 18. Valacyclovir has not been established as safe and effective for most uses in immunocompromised patients, with the exception of suppressive therapy for genital herpes in HIV-infected adults.

Most-Reported Side Effects for Valacyclovir

From FAERS, the FDA’s public side-effect reporting system (70,056 reports, all brands). Reports are voluntary and are not proof the drug caused the effect.

Fatigue 4,317 reports
Nausea 3,985 reports
Diarrhea 3,648 reports
Headache 2,964 reports
Fever 2,753 reports
See full Valacyclovir drug information
Keep checking

Other Drugs & Garden Cress

Browse every other medication we’ve checked against Garden Cress — both the ones with a known interaction and the ones without. Select any drug for the full detail.

0Major
398Moderate
0Minor
2,431No known interaction
398 Moderate 2,431 No interaction
Moderate

398 interactions

Showing 60 of 398 moderate interactions — see all 398 on the Garden Cress page.

No interaction 2,431 drugs checked — show the list

We also checked Garden Cress against these medications and found no known interaction in our sources. Open any page to confirm.

Showing the 60 most looked-up of 2,431 medications checked with no known interaction — see the full Garden Cress list.

See the full Garden Cress interactions page
See every supplement checked against Valacyclovir, ranked by severity
Evidence & sources

Garden Cress References

The 12 references that drive our Garden Cress monograph and interaction data, from the evidence-graded Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) database. Citations with a link open the study on PubMed or the publisher’s site.

  1. Eddouks, M. and Maghrani, M. Effect of Lepidium sativum L. on renal glucose reabsorption and urinary TGF-beta 1 levels in diabetic rats. Phytother.Res 2008;22(1):1-5.
  2. Maghrani, M, Zeggwagh, NA, Michel, JB, and Eddouks, M. Antihypertensive effect of <it>Lepidium sativum</it> L. in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Journal of Ethnopharmacology (Ireland) 2005;100:193-197.
  3. Al-Jenoobi FI, Ahad A, Mahrous GM, Al-Mohizea AM, AlKharfy KM, Al-Suwayeh SA. Effects of fenugreek, garden cress, and black seed on theophylline pharmacokinetics in beagle dogs. Pharm Biol 2015;53(2):296-300. PubMed
  4. Alkharfy KM, Al-Jenoobi FI, Alam MA, et al. Lepidium sativum but not Nigella sativa affects carbamazepine disposition in an animal model. Drug Metab Lett 2013;7:47-51. PubMed
  5. Chen X, Yuan H, Shi F, Zhu Y. Effect of garden cress in reducing blood glucose, improving blood lipids, and reducing oxidative stress in a mouse model of diabetes induced by a high-fat diet and streptozotocin. J Sci Food Agric 2020;100(5):2074-2081. PubMed
  6. Alkharfy K, Jan B, Alotaibi K, et al. Clopidogrel-herb Interactions: A Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Assessment in a Rat Model. Curr Drug Metab 2021;22(12):969-977. PubMed
  7. Bin Jardan YA, Ahad A, Raish M, Alam MA, Al-Mohizea AM, Al-Jenoobi FI. Effects of garden cress, fenugreek and black seed on the pharmacodynamics of metoprolol: an herb-drug interaction study in rats with hypertension. Pharm Biol 2021;59(1):1088-1097. PubMed
  8. Ramadan S, Hegab AM, Al-Awthan YS, Al-Duais MA, Tayel AA, Al-Saman MA. Comparison of the efficiency of Lepidium sativum, Ficus carica, and Punica granatum methanolic extracts in relieving hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia of streptozotocin-induced diabetic
  9. I Al-Suwaydani A, Alam MA, Raish M, A Bin Jardan Y, Ahad A, I Al-Jenoobi F. Effect of C. cyminum and L. sativum on pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of antidiabetic drug gliclazide. Curr Drug Metab 2022;23(10):842-849.
  10. Alam MA, Bin Jardan YA, Raish M, Al-Mohizea AM, Ahad A, Al-Jenoobi FI. Herb-drug interaction: pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of anti-hypertensive drug amlodipine besylate in presence of Lepidium sativum and Curcuma longa. Xenobiotica 2022;52(2):177
  11. Ahad A, Raish M, Abdelrahman IA, et al. Changes in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of losartan in experimental diseased rats treated with Curcuma longa and Lepidium sativum. Pharmaceuticals (Basel) 2022;16(1):33. PubMed
  12. Doghmane A, Aouacheri O, Laouaichia R, Saka S. The investigation of the efficacy ratio of cress seeds supplementation to moderate hyperglycemia and hepatotoxicity in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. J Diabetes Metab Disord 2021;20(1):447-459. PubMed

Medication overviews come from MedlinePlus (NIH); supplement label data from the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database. Content is written and reviewed by licensed HelloPharmacist pharmacists — see our data sources and editorial standards.

Pharmacist Counseling Corner

Taking Garden Cress and Valacyclovir Together: Common Questions

Is it safe to take Garden Cress with Valacyclovir?
We do not list a known interaction between Garden Cress and Valacyclovir. That does not guarantee the combination is risk-free, so confirm with your pharmacist or doctor — especially if you take other medications or have a health condition.
How was the Garden Cress and Valacyclovir combination checked?
Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes. Valacyclovir is filed under 3 classifications, and Garden Cress has documented interactions with 14 drug classes — none of Valacyclovir's classifications are among them. A medication can belong to classes beyond those recorded in our dataset, so this describes how the check was run rather than guaranteeing safety.
Does Garden Cress interact with any other medications?
Yes. Garden Cress has 398 documented drug interactions in our database — Valacyclovir is simply not one of them. If you take anything else, it is worth checking each one; they are all listed on this page.
Does Valacyclovir interact with any supplements?
Yes. Valacyclovir has documented interactions with 27 supplements in our database — Garden Cress is not one of them. The Valacyclovir interaction page linked on this page lists every one, ranked by severity.

Written and reviewed by the HelloPharmacist editorial staff. Our editorial policy

Where next

Keep Exploring

Garden Cress monograph Uses, safety profile, and every drug interaction in one place Valacyclovir drug information The full plain-English guide to this medication Valacyclovir supplement interactions Every supplement checked against Valacyclovir, ranked by severity Supplement interaction checker Check any supplement or product against your medications Browse medications A–Z Every drug we’ve checked against herbs & supplements References The 12 citations behind this page Ask a pharmacist Free, personal answer from our licensed team

Still Have a Question About Valacyclovir and Garden Cress?

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This information is for education only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always check with your pharmacist or doctor before starting, stopping, or combining supplements and medications.